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.   Arctic 

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Currents, 

'c  W 

olcott 

Brooks 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
AT   LOS  ANGELES 


EARLY    MIGRATIONS. 


ARCTIC    DRIFT 


Ocean  Currents 


ILLUSTRATED  BY  THE  DISCOVERY  ON  AN  ICE-FLOE  OFF  THK 


COAST  OF  GREENLAND 


Of   Relies   from   the   American    Arctic  Steamer 
"  Jeannette." 


BY 

CHARLES  WOLOOTT  BROOKS 


SAN     FRANCISCO,    CALIFORNIA: 

<;i!n    SpHilMin'.'  *-  I'd      I'riri?,-vs 


\r 


EARLY    MIGRATIONS. 


AKCTIC   DEIFT 


AND 


Ocean  Currents 


ILLUSTRATED  BY  THE  DISCOVERY  ON  AN  ICE  -  FLOE  OFF  THE 


COAST  OF  GREENLAND 


Of  Relies   from  the  American  Arctic  Steamer 
'•  Jeannette." 


BY 

CHARLES  WOLCOTT  BROOKS 

Member  of  the   Academy. 


Read  before  the  California  Academy  of  Sciences  September  Ist,  1884. 


SAN    FRANCISCO,    CALIFORNIA 
Geo.  SpauldiuK  &  Co.,  Printers. 


Digitized  by  tine  Internet  Arciiive 

in  2007  witii  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


littp://www.ancHiVe.Di^/details/eWlymig>atib^'5a00brObi4la 


T5  7f 


Arctic  Drift  and  Ocean  Currents. 

ILLUSTRATED  BY  THE  DISCOVERY  ON  AN  ICE-FLOE  OFF  THE 

COAST   OF   GREENLAND 

Of  Relics  from  thie  American  Arctic  Steamer 
"Jeannette." 


CO 


SCIENTIFIC  IMPORTANCE   OF   THE   SUBJECT. 

It    is    a  new    and    important    fact,    worthy    of    careful 
record    by   physicists    of    all    nations,  that  ice-floes  from 
north   of  Herald    Island,   opposite  Bering  Strait,  dividing 
Asia  from  America,  are  drifted  to  the  south-western  point  of 
^  Greenland  in  the   Atlantic.     The    deep    and   constant   in- 
*^  terest  manifested   by  this  Academy  in  the  American  Arc- 
oe  tic   explorations  of   the  Jeannette,   which   sailed  from   our 
»  port  on  July  8th,  1879,  under  command  of  Lieut.  George 
""•  W.  De  Long,  U.  S.  N.,  and  in  the  fate  of  her  gallant  crew, 
^  is  well  known  to  all  scientific  bodies  throughout  the  world, 
g       Humboldt,  the  father  of  modern  science,  that  great  and 
good  man,  when  off  the  coast  of  Peru,  first  discovered  the 
stream  that  bears  his  name.     Both  Humboldt  and  Sir  John 
Herschel  pronounced  ocean  circulation  the  greatest  problem 
of  terrestrial  physics.     Ocean  currents,  with  inland  water 
courses,  have  largely  aided  and  often  directed  early  migra- 
tions.    Isothermal  lines  are   not  strictly   coincident  with 
parallels  of  latitude.     Along  the  Atlantic  seaboard  of  North 
America,  a  warm  stream  flows  four  miles  an  hour,  which 
Dr.  Croll  tells  us,  conveys  as  much  heat  to  northern  Europe, 
as  the  entire  Arctic  regions  obtain  from  the  sun.     Dr.  Wm. 
B.  Carpenter  recently  informed  the  British  Association  that 
oceanic  currents  flow  northward  into  the  Arctic,  because  cold 
water  there  sinks,  and  constantly  stimulates  the  water  from 
warmer  regions  to  advance  and  fill  its  place. 

298998 


4  ARCTIC    DRIFT   AND   OCEAN   CURRENTS. 

Dr.  Wm.  H.  Dall,  U.  S.  C.  S.,  attributes  their  presence 
to  the  inflow  of  warm  fresh  water,  discharged  by  the  large 
number  of  rivers  flowing  northward,  and  emptying  in  the 
Ticinity  of  the  polar  basin.  Atmospheric  pressure,  revealed 
by  recent  barometric  tests,  affords  data  for  another  plausible 
theory. 

Dr.  A.  Geike  has  brought  out  discoveries  in  geology  which 
merit  consideration  in  the  study  of  this  subject.  Earth  is  an 
oblate  spheroid  flattened  26  ^^^^^  miles  at  the  poles;  but  re- 
cent geodetic  measurements  show  it  to  be  an  unsymmetrical 
form,  whose  equatorial  circumference  is  an  ellipse  instead 
of  a  circle.  Its  greatest  equatorial  diameter  at  sea-level, 
where  the  vertices  touch  the  surface  in  longitude  14''^  22'  E. 
and  165°  37'  W.,  is  nearly  two  miles  longer  than  at  right 
angles  to  it.  How  far  inequalities  of  earth's  form  may  dis- 
turb the  equilibrium  of  its  surface  waters,  and  attract  them 
by  force  of  gravitation  or  some  other  power  yet  undemon- 
strated,  is  an  inquiry  pertinent  to  this  subject. 

Arcs  of  meridians  have  been  measured,  to  determine  with 
great  accuracy  the  actual  length  of  each  separate  degree  of 
latitude  from  the  Equator  to  the  North  Pole.  These  meas- 
urements show  that  the  measured  length  of  a  degree  in- 
creases with  the  latitude,  and  that  a  degree  at  the  pole, 
where  earth's  surface  is  flattened  one  300th  part  of  its  dia- 
meter, is  now  3,662  feet,  (0.694  of  a  mile)  longer  than  at  the 
increasing  curvature  of  the  protuberant  Equator.  Earth's 
form  being  now  unsymmetrical,  tends  to  keep  its  surface 
waters  in  a  state  of  unrest.  Many  forces  are  continually  la- 
boring by  different  methods,  to  attain  for  these,  a  state  near- 
er to  equilibrium,  thereby  giving  impulse  to  oceanic  currents. 

Mathew  F.  Maury,  by  an  original  system  of  classification* 
adopted  in  the  U.  S.  wind  and  current  charts,  did  much  to 
attract  a  critical  exploration  of  maritime  currents.  There 
may  be  a  partial  truth  in  all  the  many  theories  advanced. 
The  voyages  of  the  British  ships  Lightning,  Porcupine  and 
Challenger,  United  States'  ships  Dolphin,  2\iscaro7'a,  Fish 
Hawk,  and  Swedish  steamer  Vega,  have  given  us  reliable 
data  for  scientific  study;  but  a  carefully  preserved  record  of 


ARCTIC   DRIFT   AND   OCEAN   CURRENTS.  0 

the  drift  of  waifs  borne  direlect  on  ice-floes  and  along  ocean 
currents,  largely  supplements  our  field  of  knowledge.  The 
British  discovery  ship  Resolute,  one  of  Sir  Edward  Belcher's 
expedition,  was  abandoned  Aug.  26, 1854,  when  frozen  in,  not 
far  from  Beechy  Island,  in  lat.  74^  40'  N.,  Ion.  90°  45'  W., 
and  was  picked  up  without  a  person  on  board  by  Captain 
Buddington,  of  the  American  whale-ship  George  Henry,  Sept. 
11th,  1855,  in  lat.  64°  40'  N.,  Ion.  6P  30'  W.,  ofFCiimber- 
land  Sound,  on  the  west  coast  of  Baffin's  Bay,  just  south  of 
Davis  Strait.  She  was  brought  to  the  United  States,  and  by 
Congress  presented  to  England.  In  381  days  she  drifted 
eastward  in  the  ice-floe  fully  1,100  miles,  averaging  about 
three  miles  each  day. 

Another  remarkable  experience  of  Arctic  drift  was  that  of 
a  party  of  19  persons,  including  men,  women  and  children, 
landed  on  an  ice-floe  of  five  miles  in  circumference,  with 
boats,  stores  and  provisions  from  the  U.  S.  S.  Polaris, 
Charles  F.  Hall,  Commander,  on  October  15th,  1872,,  in  lat. 
77°  35'  N.,  not  far  from  Littleton  Island,  when  it  was  thought 
that  vessel  was  about  to  sink.  Upon  this  drifting  floe  they 
built  snow  huts  in  which  they  lived  and  kept  their  records 
and  provisions.  They  were  rescued  by  the  barkentine 
Tigress,  Capt.  Bartlett,  April  30th,  1873,  in  lat.  53°  30'  N., 
which  vessel  was  engaged  in  sealing. 

In  the  light  of  information  now  received,  it  appears  quite 
certain  that  had  the  Jeannette  proved  strong  enough  to  hold 
together,  she  would  have  sailed  safely  into  New  York  early 
in  the  Spring  of  1884,  if  not  before.  In  proof  of  this  opin- 
ion, the  following  facts  are  now  reported  as  causing  great 
surprise  and  much  attentive  study  among  scientific  men  in 
the  United  States. 

HOW   THE   NEWS   WAS   RECEIVED. 

On  Friday,  August  15th,  1884,  the  American  bark 
Fluorine,  Capt.  Alexander  Wilson,  arrived  at  Philadelphia, 
— days  from  Ovigtut,  the  port  of  shipment  for  the  cryolite 
mines,  situated  a  few  miles  north  of  Julians-haab,  the  prin- 
cipal place  and  seat  of  the  local  government  of  an  extensive 


6-  ARCTIC    DRIFT    AND    OCEAN    CURRENTS. 

district  on  the  southern  extremity  of  Greenland.  It  is  a 
maritime  station  situated  110  miles  N.  W.  of  Cape  Farewell, 
the  extreme  southern  point  of  Greenland. 

Just  before  sailing  from  Ivigtut,  in  July,  1884,  an  official 
dispatch,  addressed  to  the  Danish  Consulate  in  New  York, 
was  handed  him  by  the  Danish  Colonial  Governor  of  Ju- 
lians-haab,  who  went  at  once  to  Ivigtut  and  gave  the  news  to 
Capt.  Wilson.  Upon  the  arrival  of  the  Fluorine  at  Phila- 
delphia, Capt.  Wilson  promptly  forwarded  the  dispatch  to 
the  Danish  Consul,  who  kindly*  furnishes  the  following  offi- 
cial translation,  dated 

[official   communication   of   the    DANISH    GOVERNMENT.] 

"The  Colony  Julianshaab,  in  South  Greenland,  [ 

"June  23d,  1884.       j" 

^^  To  the  Danish  Consulage  in  Neio  York: 

"I  hereby  take  the  liberty  to  request  the  consulate  to 
inform  the  editors  of  The  New  Yoi^k  Hei^ald  that  on  the  18th 
inst.,  three  Greenlanders  picked  up  on  an  ice-floe  some 
effijcts,  and  some  partly  torn  papers  belonging  to  the  Ameri- 
can Arctic  Jeannette  expedition,  among  which  are  the  fol- 
lowing : 

"1.  Two  end-pieces  of  a  wooden  box,  on  which  are 
written  with  lead  pencil ,  on  one  piece : 


GENERAL  ORDERS. 
TELEGRAMS. 
SAILING  ORDERS. 
DISCIPLINE. 


SHIP  S  PAPERS. 
VARIOUS  AGREEMENTS. 
CHARTER  PARTY. 


** The  last  words  not  very  plain.     On  the  other  piece  was: 


BEFORE  SAILING. 


"3.     A  torn   check   book.     On    the  back  of  one  of  the 
checks  is  printed,  Tor  deposit  with  the  bank  of  California.' 
"4.     A  pair  of  oilskin  trousers,  marked:  Louis  NoRos. 


ARCTIC    DRIFT   AND   OCEAN   CURRENTS.  T 

"  These  effects,  numbering  twenty-one  pieces  (besides  the 
papers),  are  in  my  possession.  I  am  going  home  to  remain 
during  the  winter.  Should  anybody  want  further  inform- 
ation, the  same  can  be  obtain  by  addressing 

"  KOLONIBESTYRER  C.  LyTZEN, 

"  Kongl.  Gronl,  Handels-Kontor, 
"  Kjobmhavn,  K., 

"Denmark. 
''BespectfuUy,  Carl  Lytzen. 

When  Capt.  Wilson's  report  of  the  barque  Fluorine  was 
briefly  telegraphed  over  the  country,  a  few  were  at  first 
inclined  to  doubt  the  truth  of  the  report,  but  when  fuller 
particulars  were  received,  with  the  unqualified  official  en- 
dorsement of  the  Governor  of  Julians-haab  to  the  Danish 
Consul  at  New  York,  and  it  was  learned  that  the  articles 
recovered  would  soon  follow,  the  information  thus  became 
authoritatively  vouched  for,  and  is  now  attracting  that  deep 
interest  it  so  thoroughly  merits. 

STATEMENT   OF   CAPTAIN  WILSON. 

Capt.  Alexander  Wilson,  who  now  resides  at  his  home, 
No.  2034  South  Fifth  street,  Philadelphia,  kindly  furnishes 
us  the  following  statement.  He  says :  The  superintendent 
of  the  Kryolite  mines  at  Ivigtut  first  informed  him  of  this 
highly  important  discovery.  A  party  of  Esquimaux  were 
out  among  the  floe  ice,  catching  seal.  Late  in  the  afternoon 
of  Wednesday,  June  18th,  1884,  they  approached  a  piece 
which  had  attracted  their  attention,  floating  in  latitude  60° 
36'  north,  longitude  46^  7'  west,  where  they  found  on 
a  large  piece  of  drift  ice,  the  lower  part  of  a  tent,  the  upper 
part  of  which  had  been  blown  away  by  the  storms  of  three 
Arctic  winters;  also  the  ends  of  a  provision  cask,  and  some 
stores  marked  "Jeannette' — a  charter  party  "between  S.  B. 
Peterson,  managing  owner  of  the  American  schooner  Fanny 
A.  Hyde,  Capt.  J.  W.  Jesperson,  of  San  Francisco,  California, 
and  George  W.  DeLong,  from  Mare  Island  Navy  Yard,  to 
the  port  of  St.  Michaels  in  Norton  Sound,  Territory  of 
Alaska,  U.  S.  A.,  there  for  delivery  to  the  Arctic  steamer 


8  ARCTIC    DRIFT   AND   OCEAN   CURRENTS. 

Jeannette" — also  a  partially  used  check  book  on  the  Bank  of 
California,  with  a  package  of  cancelled  checks,  signed  by 
Captain  DeLong — a  pair  of  oilskin  trousers  marked  "Louis 
Noros,"  and  a  bear  skin,  covering  something  of  the  size  and 
shape  of  a  human  corpse,  which  the  Greenlanders  did  not  re- 
move to  ascertain  what  was  under  it,  owing  to  a  native 
superstition  rendering  those  temporarily  unclean  who  handle 
the  dead  bodies  of  human  beings. 

On  another  piece  of  floe  near  by,  quite  a  quantity  of  sailor's 
clothing  was  found.  These  relics  the  Esquimaux  took  to 
the  Governor  of  Julians-haab,  who  immediately  started, 
taking  one  of  their  number  as  a  guide,  to  find  the  ice-floe 
and  the  supposed  body;  but  after  long  search  he  was  com- 
pelled to  return  without  success,  it  having  floated  off. 

We  ought  to  know  all  about  these  relics  in  a  short  time. 
There  are  four  American  vessels  at  the  little  village  of  Ivigtut 
at  present,  loading  with  cryolite  from  the  mines  near  that 
place,  and  some  of  them  will  follow  the  Fluorine  very  soon. 

Capt.  Wilson  says  he  believes  that  Governer  Lytzen  will 
send  all  the  things  found  on  the  floe  to  Ivigtut,  in  order 
to  get  them  to  this  country  as  soon  as  possible.  He  wrote  to 
the  superintendent  of  the  cryolite  mines  to  send  them  to  the 
United  States  on  the  first  vessel  which  leaves. 

"  JEANNETTE  "  RELICS  ACTUALLY  LEFT  ON  THE  ICE. 

On  Friday,  September  5th,  1879,  the  Jeannette  entered  the 
ice  pack,  and  became  fixed  in  the  floe,  drifting  northwardly 
past  Herald  Island,  until  she  reached  about  latitude  73°  SO' 
north,  longitude  180°.  Then  the  drift  turned  into  a  more 
northwesterly  course,  and  kept  on  in  that  direction  until  at 
4  A.  M.,  Monday,  June  13th,  1881,  the  vessel  sunk  in  38 
fathoms  of  water  in  longitude  154"  58'  45"  E.,  latitude  77° 
14'  57"  N. 

The  Jeannette  drifted  steadily  westward  up  to  the  time  she 
sank,  and  the  ice-floe  on  which  these  relics  were  found  may 
have  been  one  of  those  upon  which  her  party  took  refuge 
just  before  she  sunk.  It  is  but  natural  to  suppose  that  the 
floe  kept  on  drifting  westward,  just  as  the  Jeannette  had  been 


ARCTIC    DRIFT    AND    OCEAN    CURRENTS.  U 

doing.  Her  course,  while  wedged  in  the.  ice,  is  a  true  proof 
of  a  westerly  current  along  this  unexplored  and  shallow 
portion  of  the  Arctic  Ocean  north  of  Siberia. 

In  Mrs.  Emma  DeLong's  admirable  publication  of  her 
brave  husband's  ship  and  ice  journal  (see  Vol.  II,  page  578) 
a  list  of  170  pieces  of  clothing  is  given  in  detail,  consisting;- 
of  over-shirts,  drawers,  coats,  trousers,  fur  and  woolen 
blankets,  skin-parkies,  etc.,  which  remained  on  hand  after 
the  party,  then  on  an  ice  cake,  were  clothed,  and  their  knap- 
sacks packed  with  the  regulation  outfit  for  their  journey 
southward.  These,  he  says,  "were  divided  among  all  hands 
as  required,  much  of  it  being  in  excess." 

Besides  landing  their  boats,  sledges,  equipment  of  rifles 
and  plenty  of  ammunition,  six  tents,  provisions,  including 
3,500  pounds  pemmican  in  45-pound  tin  canisters,  1,500 
pounds  hard  bread,  canned  meats,  Liebig's  extract,  alcohol, 
tea,  sugar,  and  all  available  equipments  necessary  for  a  re- 
treat were  securely  placed  on  an  ice-floe,  distant  400  feet 
from  where  the  Jeannette  went  down. 

The  floe  bearing  the  Jeannette  relics  was  found  off  Julian- 
shaab,  the  first  Danish  settlement  on  the  coast,  just  below 
Ivigtut,  on  Wednesday,  June  18th,  1884,  just  three  years,  or 
1,076  days  after  Capt.  DeLong  and  his  gallant  band  broke 
camp  on  an  ice-floe  in  Lat.  IT  18'  N.,  Long.  153°  25',  E. 
and  started  southward  on  Saturday,  June  18th,  1881,  hop- 
ing, as  DeLong  then  wrote  in  his  journal — "with  God's 
blessing  to  reach  the  New  Siberian  Islands,  and  from  there, 
make  our  way  by  boats  to  the  coast  of  Siberia." 

EXPLANATION  BY  ONE  OF  THE  "  JEANNKTrE'S  "  CREW. 

Under  date  of  Newburyport,  August  20th,  1884,  Louis 
Philippe  Noros,  one  of  the  survivors  who  reached  Siberia 
with  De  Long's  party  in  the  first  cutter,  writes : — 

"  Before  we  left  the  Jeannette  we  carried  on  to  the  ice  a 
lot  of  bear  skins,  which  we  spread  out  to  form  a  floor,  and 
in  addition  carried  clothing,  food,  rifles,  tobacco,  etc.  After 
the  Jeannette  was  crushed  we  had  to  leave  the  bear  skins,  a 
lot  of  canned  goods,  cans,  rifles,  and  200  or  300  pounds  of 


10  AKCTIC    DRIFT    AND    OCEAN    CURRENTS. 

tobacco  behind,  as  we  could  not  carry  them  all  over  the  ice. 
We  also  left  all  the  clothing  except  what  we  had  on,  and  a 
suit  of  under-clothing,  which  we  packed  and  carried  in  a 
knapsack.  We  carried  /f'y  tents  with  us,  De  Long's  party 
having  two,  Melville's  two,  and  Chipp's  one.  I  may  possi- 
bly have  left  my  sealskin  pantaloons  on  the  ice  where 
the  Jeannetle  went  down,  but  my  impression  is  that  they 
were  left  with  other  clothing,  ship's  implements,  utensils, 
papers,  etc.,  in  the  cache  left  by  De  Long  on  the  Siberian 
coast.  We  had  four  tin  boxes,  in  which  De  Long  kept  the 
ship's  log  and  valuable  papers,  two  of  which  were  left  in  the 
cache  and  two  carried  away  by  De  Long  \\  hen  Quartermaster 
Nindermann  and  I  started  south  for  help.  We  also  left  in 
the  cache  a  small  bear  skin,  the  only  bear  skin  in  the  pos- 
session of  the  party  after  leaving  the  Jeannette.  The  ac- 
count says  that  a  cask  of  miscellaneous  ship  provisions  was 
found  marked  Jeannette.  Now  the  fact  is,  we  did  take  some 
bread  barrels  out,  but  after  putting  the  bread  in  bags  and 
loading  it  on  our  sleds  we  left  the  empty  barrels  behind  on 
the  ice." 

A  native  Greenlander's  language  may  be  deficient  in  words 
capable  of  such  nice  distinctions  as  the  exact  difference  be- 
tween 6nr  English  use  of  the  words  cask  and  barrel.  A  large 
barrel  may  frequently,  for  purposes  of  general  description, 
be  called  a  cask.     Noros  further  says: — 

"  What  puzzles  me  most  is  how  these  articles  now  reported 
found  could  have  remained  on  the  ice  so  long.  My  expe- 
rience taught  me  that  all  small  articles  placed  on  the  ice  in 
the  arctic  regions  always  attracted  the  sun  and  gradually 
melted  down  through  the  ice  until  lost  to  sight.  Why,  in  a 
very  short  time  a  chip  would  be  buried  its  own  thickness 
under  the  ice  by  this  peculiar  process,  and  if  the  things 
found  really  belonged  to  the  Jeannette  something  strangely 
wonderful  seems  to  have  providentially  kept  them  so  long  a 
time  on  the  surface  of  the  ice." 

WHAT   DE  long's  DIARY   EXPLAINS. 

Some  explanation  of  the  above  may  possibly  be  found  in 
Capt.  De   Long's  carefully  written  and  minutely  accurate 


ARCTIC    DRIFT    AND    OCEAN    CURRENTS.  11 

diary  (Vol.  II,  pages  588  et.  seq.)  where  is  inserted  the  copy 
of  a  digested  synopsis  of  the  cruise  of  \heJeannette,  up  to  her 
foundering,  dated  on  the  ice-floe,  Friday,  June  17th,  1881, 
and  signed  by  him  officially.  This,  it  is  recorded,  he  pre- 
pared and  sewed  with  great  care  in  a  piece  of  black  rubber, 
rendering  it  as  impervious  to  moisture  as  possible,  and 
caused  the  whole  to  be  headed  up,  inside  of  an  empty  water- 
breaker,  or  small  cask  used  for  carrying  water  in  boats. 
When  thus  securely  packed,  he  left  it  with  the  debris  of 
their  first  camp  on  the  ice-floe  to  which  they  escaped  when 
their  vessel  sunk.  Capt.  De  Long  must  have  observed  the 
tendency  of  small  articles  to  work  their  way  into  the  ice, 
and  it  seems  more  than  likely,  that  in  accordance  with  the 
especial  care  otherwise  manifest  in  regard  to  this  precious 
record,  that  he  had  it  covered  over  before  his  departure, 
with  some  of  the  clothing,  bear  skins  and  other  material, 
which  Noros  states  was  left  behind  on  the  ice-floe.  If  cov- 
ering a  large  surface  of  ice  with  a  thick  covering  would  pro- 
tect it,  what  course  seems  more  natural  for  a  careful  and 
scientific  commander  to  pursue.  This  may  account  for  its 
preservation  for  so  long  a  period,  in  good  condition. 

The  men  first  camped  in  fiix  tents,  on  the  ice-floe,  which 
DeLong  describes  (Vol.  II,  page  582)  as  follows:  Tent  "A., 
Headquarters;  B.,  De  Long;  C,  Chipp;  D.,  Melville;  E., 
Danenhower;  F.,  Ambler;"  in  front  of  which  were  placed 
three  boats  and  four  sledges.  Accepting  the  statement  now 
made  by  Noros,  "that  the  party  carried  south  five  tents,  De 
Long's  party  having  two,  Melville's  two,  and  Chipp's  one," 
it  is  apparent  that,  as  De  Long  records,  six  as  landed  on  the 
ice-floe,  one  must  have  been  left  there  when  the  retreat 
began. 

This  accounts  for  the  partly  destroyed  tent  which  Captain 
Wilson  says  was  found  on  the  floe.  He  reported  that  the 
natives  saw  a  bearskin  covering  something  resembling  in 
size  and  shape  a  human  corpse.  This  probably  covered 
some  provisions  which  could  not  be  carried  and  were  aban- 
doned on  the  ice,  and  he  fully  "believes  that  what  was  cov- 
ered up  under  the  bear  skin,  was  only  apparently  in  the 


12  ARCTIC    DRItT    AND   OCEAN   CURRENTS. 

shape  of  a  human  body."  May  it  not  have  been  a  long  wa- 
ter-breaker ?  Chief  Engineer  Montgomery  Fletcher,  U.  S. 
N.,  informs  us  that  many  of  such  a  form  were  included  in  the 
outfit  of  the  JeanneUe  when  she  left  the  U.  S.  Navy  Yard  at 
Mare  Island,  Cal. 

FORCE  AND   DIRECTION   OF   CURRENTS. 

Captain  Wilson  states  that  he  ' '  thoroughly  believes  that 
the  articles  on  the  piece  of  ice  found  oft'  the  coast  of 
Greenland  really  floated  there — borne  by  the  iden- 
tical cake  of  field  ice  upon  which  the  JeanneUe  party 
encamped  after  the  sinking  of  their  vessel,  and  upon  which 
they  apportioned  their  outfit,  and  abandoned  all  that  was 
unnecessary  to  sustain  life,"  taking  Avhat  they  could,  and 
leaving  the  remainder,  before  starting  southward  upon  their 
retreat.  Capt.  Wilson  has  been  on  whaling  ships  cruising 
in  Arctic  seas  for  more  than  thirteen  years.  He  says  there  is 
nothing  improbable  in  this,  as  he  knows  from  frequent 
experience  that  ' '  there  is  a  polar  current  found  as  high  as 
eighty  degrees  North,  which  runs  in  a  southwest  direction 
closely  along  the  coast  of  Greenland,  then  tiirns  at  Cape 
Farewell  and  flows  thence  northeasterly  along  the  western 
coast  of  Greenland  up  Baffin's  Bay." 

Capt.  Charles  B.  Dix,  one  of  the  owners  of  the  Fluorine 
•  fully  agrees  with  Capt.  Wilson  that  these  relics  could  not 
possibly  have  drifted  eastward,  down  through  the  intricate 
series  of  channels  leading  into  Baffin's  Bay,  and  thence 
across  Davis  Straits,  to  the  point  near  the  coast  of  South 
Greenland  where  they  were  found.  Such  a  circuitous  route, 
through  McClure's  Strait,  south  of  Parry  Islands,  and  thence 
eastward  through  Lancaster  or  Jones'  Sound  into  Baffin's 
Bay,  involves  a  complicated  drift  of  over  five  thousand  miles, 
over  17  degrees  of  latitude  and  149  degrees  of  longitude. 

Capt.  Wilson  further  says:  '*The  ice  would  thus  be 
taken  between  Nova  Zembla  and  Franz  Josef  Land,  where 
a  strong  westerly  current  sets  against  S|)itzbergen,  and 
thence  southerly  around  Spitsbergen,  where  an  indraught 
of  the  Gulf  Stream  gives  a  northern  direction  to  the  current. 
This  northern  course  continues  to  nearly  latitude  80°,  longi- 


ARCTIC    DRIFT   AND    OCEAN    CURRENTS.  1$ 

tucle  10°  east,  where  it  meets  the  soil th ward  current  pouring 
from  the  Polar  Ocean  and  is  carried  down  the  east  coast  of 
Greenland.  Of  the  portion  of  the  journey  which  the  ice-floe 
probably  took  I  can  speak  from  my  own  knowledge,  as  I 
have  sailed  along  there  myself,  and  the  ice  is  carried  south- 
ward on  the  current  parallel  with  the  Greenland  coast  at  the 
rate  of  about  twenty-five  miles  a  day.  When  the  ice  got  to 
Cape  Farewell  it  was,  very  likely,  carried  around  that  corner 
of  Greenland  by  Gulf  Stream  influence,  and  floated  to  the  very 
spot  where  it  was  found.  In  performing  this  journey  the 
relics  of  the  Jeanneite  went  over  forty-five  hundred  miles 
in  one  thousand  and  ninety-six  days;  allowing  for  all  the 
twists  and  eccentricities  which  the  currents  may  be  subject 
to.  This  would  give  the  floes  an  average  traveling  time  of 
about  four  nautical  miles  a  day,  which  is  just  what  took 
place. 

OPINIONS   EXPRESSED   BY    DISTINGUISHED   MEN. 

Dr.  Emil  Bessels,  the  Arctic  explorer  and  well  known 
geologist  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution,  at  Washington,  was 
at  first  in  doubt  in  regard  to  the  brief  telegraphic  report, 
but  upon  receipt  of  fuller  details  he  gave  as  his  opinion  that 
to  reach  that  point,  the  floe  on  which  they  were  found  must 
have  drifted  along  the  northerly  part  of  the  known  coast  of 
Greenland,  and  have  been  carried  by  the  East  Greenland 
ice  stream,  which  doubles  Cape  Farewell,  around  that  cape 
into  the  vicinity  of  Julianshaab.  The  currents  in  Bafiin's 
Bay  and  Davis  Straits  are  such  that  the  cold  current  which 
doubles  Cape  Farewell  runs  to  the  northward  on  the  inside 
of  a  branch  of  the  Gulf  Stream  drift,  which  probably  does 
not  extend  further  north  than  Disco.  He  says  most  em- 
phatically that  "the  floe  could  not  have  come  doiun  Baffin  s 
Bay  to  where  it  was  found,  as  the  currents  issuing  from 
Smith  Sound,  Jones  Sound  and  Lancaster  Sound,  closely 
follow  the  eastern  shores  of  the  North  American  Archipel- 
ago, bending — as  all  southward  currents  do — to  the  west- 
ward. Whatever  channels  the  ice  floe  had  come  through 
it  would  necessarily  have  followed  the  course  of  currents 
along  its  route. ' ' 


14  ARCTIC    DRIFT    AND    OCEAN   CURRENTS. 

Chief-Engineer  Melville,  one  of  the  survivors  of  the  Jean- 
neUe  expedition,  after  analyzing  all  data  obtainable  from  the 
U.  S.  Hjdrographic  Ofl&ce  Reports,  with  a  careful  scrutiny 
and  comparison  of  arrows,  indicating  the  currents  observed 
by  various  navigators  and  distinguished  geographers,  and 
being  personally  familiar  with  the  Arctic  literature  in  gen- 
eral, and  the  drift  of  the  Jeanndte  up  to  her  loss,  has  ex- 
pressed his  carefully  determined  belief  than  the  drift  from 
where  they  left  the  vessel  would  eventually  have  taken  her 
safely  out  had  she  remained  staunch  and  intact,  proceeding 
south-easterly  past  the  southern  end  of  Franz  Josef  Land, 
thence  moving  at  a  very  rapid  rate  when  the  pack  impinged 
upon  that  group  of  land,  and  continuing  on  in  the  current, 
passing  south  of  Spitzbergen,  around  Bear  Island  into  At- 
lantic waters. 

He  says  before  the  Jeannette  sunk,  they  all  felt  sure  their 
vessel  would  continue  to  drift  northwest  during  the  coming 
year,  they  having  then  got  out  of  that  region  of  Arctic  dold- 
rums, as  far  as  drift  is  concerned,  which  whirls  ice  around 
in  circles,  in  a  locality  just  north  of  Wrangel  island.  The 
Arctic  seems  to  be  a  very  shallow  ocean,  largely  studded 
with  an  island  archipelago,  and  on  the  Pacific  side  many 
indications  point  to  the  possible  existence  of  a  small  Arctic 
continent  surrounding  the  physical  pole.  The  greatest  depth 
encountered  by  the  Jeannette  during  her  first  year's  drift  was 
not  over  sixty,  and  the  least  seventeen  fathoms.  The  bottom 
from  which  was  taken  many  meteoric  specimens,  was  gener- 
ally uniform,  averaging  about  thirty  fathoms  only.  The 
Jeannette  had  already  drifted  more  than  half  way  to  the  lon- 
gitude of  the  river  Yenisei,  a  point  on  the  northern  coast  of 
Asia  visited  by  steamers  from  Hammerfest  in  Norway,  be- 
longing to  Alexander  Siberiakoff,  an  enterprising  Russian 
merchant,  who  trades  there  for  wheat  and  other  local  prod- 
ucts. 

Professor  George  Davidson,  President  of  this  Academy, 
who,  as  Assistant  in  charge  of  the  Bureau  of  the  U.  S.  Coast 
and  Geodetic  Survey  in  this  city,  and  author  of  the  Alaska 
Coast  Pilot  published  by  the  U.  S.  Government,  has  devo- 


ARCTIC    DRIFT    AND    OCEAN    CURRENTS.  15 

ted  years  of  patient  toil  to  the  consideration  of  Arctic  and 
kindred  currents  of  the  North  Pacific  and  Atlantic  Oceans, 
is  as  well  qualified  to  express  an  opinion  on  such  matters 
as  any  one  on  our  Coast.  He  says :  It  would  seem  highly 
probable  that  the  preservation  of  these  De  Long  relics  may 
have  been  efiected  in  this  wise.  After  the  party  left  the  floe  in 
boats,  all  relics  that  remained  may  have  been  covered  with 
a  blanket  of  snow,  and  thus  preserved  from  immediate  shift- 
ing or  loss.  This,  with  subsequent  snows  and  rains,  would 
form  a  neve  or  snowy  body  of  ice,  overlying  them,  which 
may  have  thus  remained,  not  only  all  the  next  summer,  but 
have  been  added  to  the  following  winter,  more  especially  if 
the  floe  followed  a  track  in  the  general  direction  of  the  pole, 
keeping  tliereby  in  a  region  of  intense  cold.  This  method 
of  preservation,  must  have  been  repeated,  until  the  floe 
passed  into  currents  bearing  it  southward;  where,  encount- 
ering a  warmer  temperature,  the  protective  covering  of  ice 
or  neve  would  melt  away  three  years'  deposits,  and  just  at 
such  an  opportune  period,  the  party  of  Greenlanders  ap- 
peared to  witness  these  relics,  and  rescue  all  but  the  water- 
breaker,  or  other  stores  under  the  bear-skin  and  partially 
destroyed  tent. 

Nordenskiold,  the  first  circumnavigator  of  the  continents 
of  Europe  and  Asia,  by  this  northwestern  passage  along  the 
Arctic  circle,  has  given  us  large  additions  to  our  knowledge 
of  Arctic  phenomena.  He  says,  "In  geology  a  knowledge 
of  Arctic  lands  is  an  indispensable  condition  in  determining 
the  former  history  of  our  globe."  So  in  physical  science,  a 
thorough  knowledge  of  Arctic  currents  is  needed  as  a  key  to 
unlock  many  an  important  question,  now  clouded  with  un- 
certainty. 

Alfred  Russel  Wallace,  in  his  work,  Island  Life,  says  it  is 
highly  desirable  to  estimate  the  amount  of  heat  stored  up  in 
currents  of  warm  water,  which  proceed  from  the  tropics  to 
north  polar  basins  by  many  large  streams  and  rivers ;  and  by 
a  continual  process  of  gradual  equalization,  under  a  dry 
non-conductor  of  ice,  these  operate  to  a  certain  extent  in 
ameliorating  the  rigors  of  an  Arctic  winter. 


16  ARCTIC    DRIFT    AND   OCEAN    CURRENTS. 

Mr.  Clement  R.  Markliam,  the  distinguisliecT  Secretary  of 
the  British  Royal  Geographical  Society,  after  commenting 
on  the  unfortunate  misadventure  and  valuable  results  of  the 
Greely  expedition,  expresses  his  firm  belief  that  "Polar  re- 
search will  now  continue  more  vigorously  and  wisely  until 
this  much  needed  scientific  work  has  been  completed." 

POLAB  EXPEDITIONS   CONTEMPLATED  AND  UNDER  WAY. 

The  Danish  government  expedition  under  Lieut.  Jensen, 
of  the  Royal  Navy,  left  in  May  to  explore  the  west  coast  of 
Greenland,  and  is  expected  to  return  to  Copenhagen  in  Octo- 
ber. A  similar  expedition  under  Lieut.  Holm,  is  about 
proceeding  northward  along  the  east  coast  of  Greenland,  and 
a  third  botanical  and  zoological  expedition,  under  Prof. 
Warming,  has  left  Denmark  for  West  Greenland. 

Through  these  channels  we  may  receive  additional  infor- 
mation from  the  De  Long  records,  left  afloat  in  the  direlect 
water-breaker. 

Another  Danish  Polar  Expedition  will  start  from  Copen- 
hagen for  the  frozen  Northwest  next  summer,  proceeding  by 
the  way  of  Franz  Josef  Land.  It  will  be  under  the  leader- 
ship of  Lieut.  Andreas  Hovgaard,  R.  N.  of  Vega  Expedition 
conjointly  with  Gamel. 

Russia  is  also  organizing  a  Polar  Expedition,  From  St. 
Petersburg,  under  date  of  August  27th,  1884,  we  hear  that 
the  ministry  of  marine  has  issued  to  several  learned  soci- 
eties a  plan  for  a  Russian  Polar  Expedition.  The  idea  is  to 
have  several  large  parties  start  from  Jeaiinette  Island  and 
proceed  entirely  on  foot  across  the  ice,  leaving  large  depots 
of  provisions  in  their  rear.  It  is  thought  there  are  many 
islands  north  of  Jeannette  Island  that  could  be  utilized. 

Lignite,  suitable  for  fuel,  is  there  found  cropping  out  at 
the  surface  in  large  quantities,  also  oft'ering  facilities  for 
manufacturing  gas  necessary  for  use  in  captive  balloons. 
This  is  much  needed  for  observations  to  determine  what 
route  to  take,  and  for  a  general  topographical  reconnois- 
ance. 

Xordenskiold  is  contemplating  an  expedition  to  explore 
the  Antarctic  continent. 


ARCTIC   DRIFT    AND    OCEAN   CURRENTS.  17 

The  object  of  the  Greeley  expedition  Avas  to  establish 
one  of  the  thirteen  Polar  stations,  suggested  by  Lieutenant 
Weyprecht,  of  Austria,  who  discovered  Franz  Josef  Land. 
Simultaneous  observations  of  all  physical  phenomena  were 
taken.  The  complete  programme  was  arranged  by  an  inter- 
national Polar  congress,  in  which  representatives  of  thirteen 
nations  took  part.  Observation  in  which  the  greatest  possi- 
ble accuracy  was  to  be  had  were  those  of  declination  and  de- 
viation of  the  magnetic  needle,  height  of  barometer,  temper- 
ature of  the  air  and  sea,  mean  and  maximum  rise  and  fall  of 
tides,  the  drift  of  ice-floes  and  the  direction  of  currents. 
All  geographical  and  other  explorations  were  incidental  to 
the  main  objects  of  the  expedition. 

SOME   BESULTS   AND    SUGGESTIONS. 

Arctic  research,  which  has  advanced  about  three  hundred 
miles  northward  since  Baffin  immortalized  himself  in  the 
year  1616,  will  now  be  more  carefully  and  skilfully  under- 
taken, by  the  practical  application  of  wisdom  gained  through 
experience. 

From  a  scientific  standpoint  the  American  Expedition  at 
Lady  Franklin  Bay  in  lat.  81°  40'  North,  has  accomplished 
noteworthy  results.  One  of  its  geographical  successes  "is 
the  attainment  of  a  higher  latitude  than  that  reached  by  Capt. 
Markham  in  the  British  expedition  of  1875-6.  This  feat 
was  achieved  by  Lieut.  Lockwood  and  Sergeant  Brainard 
on  May  IBtli,  1882,  who  reached  an  island  off  the  coast  of 
Greenland  in  lat.  83-'  25'  N.,  long.  44°  05'  West,  from  the 
summit  of  which,  when  2,000  feet  high,  they  saw  no  land  to 
the  northward,  but  at  the  northeast  a  cape,  which  they 
named  Eobert  Lincoln,  in  lat.  83°  35'  N.,  long.  38°  32'  W. 
It  will  be  remembered  that  Captain  Markham 's  farthest  was 
83°  20'  26"  North,  and  about  20  degrees  of  longitude  west 
of  Lieut.  Lockwood's  farthest  point. 

Greeley  makes  the  suggestive  announcement,  that  at  Lady 
Franklin  Bay  Lat.  81°  40'  N.,  Long.  64°  30'  W.,  the  tides 
rise  and  fall  8  feet,  and  come  from  the  north.  They  average 
29°  above  zero  Faht.,  which  is  two  degrees  warmer  than 

298998 


18  ARCTIC    DRIPT    AND    OCEAN    CURRENTS. 

those  at  Melville  Bay  and  Cape  Sabine,  where  the  tides 
come  from  the  south. 

Lockwood  found  at  83^  25'  N.,  about  the  same  vegeta- 
tion as  at  Lady  Franklin  Bay,  and  is  confident  that  with  a 
sufficient  supply  of  provisions  they  could  have  reached  Lat. 
85°  North. 

All  the  official  records  of  the  Greely  Arctic  expedition, 
including  the  sledge  party  under  Lieut.  Lockwood,  as  well 
as  the  private  journals  of  the  entire  party,  are  now  in  the 
hands  of  Lieut.  P.  H.  Ray,  lately  in  charge  of  the  U.  S. 
Meteorological  Signal  Station,  Point  Barrow,  Alaska.  He 
will  compile  a  detailed  history  of  the  expedition,  which,  it 
is  expected,  may  be  ready  for  publication  soon  after  ad- 
journment of  the  next  Congress. 

In  conclusion  allow  me  to  suggest  a  new  and  automatic 
method  of  ascertaining  the  drift  of  Arctic  currents,  without 
any  undue  exposure  of  human  life.  Could  not  an  hundred 
or  more  properly  constructed  casks,  capable  of  withstanding 
any  probable  ice  pressure,  be  branded  with  the  date  and  po- 
sition in  which  they  may  be  set  adrift,  coupled  with  a  re- 
quest to  have  all  particulars  of  their  discovery  sent  immedi- 
ately to  Washington? 

CHARLES  WOLCOTT  BROOKS. 


'CTIC    PI 


'-^^^B^r.J.^.SI"^-^"^' 


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